Small Energy Businesses Need Smart Technology to Compete

Quorum’s Upstream on Demand Software is Built with the Latest Cloud Capabilities for Land Management, Drilling and Completion, Budgeting, and Production Management

As we emerge from a challenging economic environment, the oil and gas industry is facing short-term volatility, growing demand, and less potential supply available. In fact, the IEA (International Energy Agency), has been projecting that a supply crunch could be on the horizon since 2016.

As such, oil and gas companies are faced with the challenge of developing a resilient strategy to mitigate these risks, boost their production, and future-proof their business. For startups and small businesses in the upstream oil and gas industry, now is the time to transform operations by leveraging advanced digital solutions to accelerate growth and meet demand.

Small upstream businesses can better manage, operate, and optimize assets through adopting modernized software that will scale and adapt in the long term. Beyond the back office, cloud-based applications can increase productivity and efficiency in the field with enhanced capabilities that support the modern energy workplace.

For example, Fleur de Lis Energy, LLC, a private E&P operator headquartered in Dallas, Texas, was looking to generate attractive, risk-adjusted returns and stable cash distributions to its investors through the acquisition, exploitation, and operation of a diverse portfolio of oil and gas properties in North America. The company had quickly acquired new acreage and needed to collect accurate, timely, and robust production data while minimizing their IT footprint and overhead.

“We wanted to stay in the cloud with as many applications as possible,” said Terry Farmer, director of IT at Fleur de Lis Energy. “Our tools needed to be lean, agile and implemented quickly.”

After researching the technology available in the market, Fleur de Lis decided to turn to Houston-based company Quorum Software. For Fleur de Lis, myQuorum Production On Demand proved to be the most mobile, cost-effective, and user-friendly easy to use solution for those working in the field. As Fleur de Lis continued to grow through operational excellence and asset acquisition, their Quorum software tools performed and scaled to meet the demand.

“With the most recent acquisition, we had 90 days to make the transition to our systems and Quorum deployed their solution and trained our field guys with no problem,” said Farmer. By utilizing an integrated solution built on Microsoft Azure, Fleur de Lis and Quorum formed a partnership that drives innovation and operational efficiency on both sides. “The amount saved in overhead by using cloud applications is enormous, probably $4 million per year,” said Farmer. “I would have to hire 20 more people to maintain and support on-premise installations.”

The company plans to continue integrating other cloud-based Quorum software to complete its end-to-end production management suite, including AFE and a data hub for reporting. “We will be using Quorum’s production data as the gold standard in our organization and link all other data in a reporting database,” said Farmer. “We’ll then place our BI tools on top of it and use this data to make important business decisions at Fleur de Lis. That shows you how much value we place on our data being collected and reported by Production On Demand and SCADA.”

Small businesses need technology that is affordable, quick, easy to implement, and built purposely for a growing business. That’s why Quorum recently introduced a full suite of integrated upstream solutions specifically tailored to high-growth businesses like Fleur de Lis. Cloud solutions provide businesses with seamless upgrades and the latest features and functionality, plus users can access data from anywhere without the need for expensive IT overhead.

With the launch of Upstream On Demand, Quorum is delivering one integrated software solution that will give small businesses the power to build out their suite of tools as their business grows. E&P operators can streamline operations from land management, through drilling and completion, production, and accounting.

Applications include:

Land On Demand – enables businesses to buy, sell, and manage leases and agreements with integrated GIS mapping.

Now more than ever, oil and gas businesses need proven solutions that are affordable and can be deployed quickly in an ever-changing market. Companies that choose cloud-based applications are more likely to see an increase in overall business agility, operational efficiency, and a quicker transition of their personnel into the modern energy workforce.

Regardless of where the market and technology go, an investment in a flexible, adaptable software infrastructure can help provide a foundation for growth now and into the future.

Matthew Mott is Senior Product Marketing Manager, Drilling & Production at Quorum Software. He has spent the last six years helping independent oil and gas companies make the digital transformation to cloud-based upstream applications through support, customer success, and marketing roles. In his current role, Matthew works to connect customers, support teams, and product teams to help Quorum deliver the modern energy workplace.

Matthew Mott is Senior Product Marketing Manager, Drilling & Production at Quorum Software. He has spent the last six years helping independent oil and gas companies make the digital transformation to cloud-based upstream applications through support, customer success, and marketing roles. In his current role, Matthew works to connect customers, support teams, and product teams to help Quorum deliver the modern energy workplace.